Intersil Corporation unveiled a new family of new high speed laser driver integrated circuits (ICs) designed specifically to enable read (CD-R) and read/write (CD-R/W) speeds up to 52X in CD-R/W laser disk drives. Intersil’s new EL622XC family of three- and four-channel laser drivers enables higher read/write speeds in existing CD-R/W drives while reducing component count and shortening data signal routing in more compact future designs. "The EL622XC family adds to Intersil’s market-leading portfolio of CD and DVD recordable products and gives original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) a quick upgrade path to higher speed, higher performance CD-R and CD-R/W drives," said Stephen P. Sacarisen, director of strategic marketing for Intersil's Elantec Optical Storage Products. “The EL622XC family assures that we will maintain our performance leadership in the CD-R/RW drive market by offering new products that are pin-to-pin and functionally compatible with existing production designs, allowing customers fast time to market. These devices reduce component count, shorten signal routing and enable more compact optical pickup designs – particularly important attributes to PC OEMs who will continue to attach faster and faster CD-R/RW drives to their products.”

Intersil’s new EL622XC family of Elantec laser drivers provides improved waveform fidelity, increased output current, lower power dissipation and reduced noise to enable higher speed CD-R/RW designs. Each device in the family includes an on-chip 600 MHz oscillator to allow frequency and amplitude control by use of external resistors to ground. The external resistors allow customers to accurately and independently set each amplifier transconductance by applying a voltage to the resistor without restriction on the voltage range, thus ensuring broad voltage DAC compatibility. Each device includes a disable feature for power-up protection and power savings. The EL622XC family is compliant with the industry-standard Orange Specification for CD-R and CD-R/W write strategy disc formats at speeds up to 52X.

EL622XC Key Features

- Three- and four-channel devices provide controlled current to grounded laser diode
- On-chip 600 MHz oscillator allows output current modulation in any mode
- Switching speed of less than 1 nanosecond rise/fall time
- Single +5V supply (±10%)
- Disable feature for power-up protection and power savings
- “Shrink-small” quarter size outline package (QSOP)

EL622XC Availability and Pricing

The device family, which includes the EL6221C, EL6224C, EL6226C and EL6227C, is available now in quarter size outline packages (QSOPs) and each device is priced at $2.50 in 10,000-unit quantities. Contact Stephen P. Sacarisen for samples or additional information at 408-945-1323, extension 345.